Today we’d like to introduce you to Florencia & the Feeling. They share their story with us below:
Florencia Rusiñol is a lifelong singer and songwriter born in 1992. Although she was born in Canada and grew up in Johnson City, TN, her Argentine parents instilled in her a love of Latin American music from an early age.
All through her childhood, there was a mix of everything from Argentine folklore to The Beatles to Manhattan Transfer playing in the house at all times.
With all the music flowing around her, it was nearly impossible for her not to want to become a professional musician, and she began working towards that by performing wherever she could during high school, singing everything from choral music to jazz standards.
In 2015, Florencia graduated from Queens University of Charlotte with a degree in Music Therapy. Florencia was thrilled to be able to combine her passion for music and her desire to make a difference in the world with this profession. Still, she never lost her love of composing and performing.
As a nomad at heart, Florencia has had the opportunity to travel and perform in various cities and countries such as Charlotte, Hungary, Kenya, Argentina, and Ecuador, where she recorded and released her first EP. After moving back to Johnson City, TN in 2020, Florencia started getting together with some musician friends from high school, Austin Herron (drums) & Nick Castro (bass).
In early 2021, they got together to play a virtual show in April but little did they know, that would be the first of 55 shows that we played together throughout the year. Over the course of all those shows, they also grew as a band, adding Diego Nuñez on violin, Isaac Ratliff on keys, and Noah Wise on guitar.
Together they have been traveling around the southeastern states and playing many different venues. After almost a year of performing under Florencia’s name, the group decided to adopt the name Florencia & the Feeling to better represent the group of incredibly talented musicians that play with Florencia.
The name refers to the captivating & carefree energy that flows from the stage at each and every concert. Florencia’s EP is available on all music listening platforms.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think being a musician is ever a smooth road. Even when I graduated high school and was trying to decide if I should study music or something “more steady”, like music therapy or nursing, I always knew that it would take a lot of hard work and dedication to make music a financially viable option.
At that point, I chose the safer option and studied music therapy. However, almost 6 years after graduating, my desire to be a full-time musician never ceased. I had always felt like it was the life I wanted, but I was too scared. That was a little over a year ago that I decided to dedicate all (and I mean *all*) of my time to playing music and growing our band, and I would never go back.
Sometimes it’s hard to make ends meet, sometimes we play to empty rooms, sometimes our van breaks down and we have to figure out how to keep touring without it–challenges will always abound. But even on those days, I can always say that I am finally doing what I’ve always wanted to do. That makes it worth it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are a high-energy pop/funk fusion band from Johnson City, TN, and we like to throw shows that inspire good feelings all around.
We love making people experience a full spectrum of emotions during our show, but it almost always ends in dancing. Every time a new fan comes back to a show or we book a new venue, I feel so proud. This is a long journey and I try to take the time to be proud of each little step. We are also proud to say that we’re playing at the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion festival for the first time this year.
I believe the thing that makes our band unique is that we don’t consider ourselves to be just one genre. We have SO many genres wrapped into one performance (pop, funk, jazz, R&B, rock, bluegrass, gospel, and more), that it truly feels like you’re going on a ride when you see us perform.
We are also a group concocted of musicians that have been doing music for a while, so when we joined forces, magic happened from the start.
Any big plans?
Well, you could say we’re reaching for the stars! Haha, we really haven’t set any limits on ourselves, and we want to grow as far as this industry will take us.
As a new band, we’ve really only just begun to hit the ground running and we have so many plans and hopes for the future. Luckily, we already have a big group of folks that support us & want us to grow.
The biggest evidence of this was that we launched a Kickstarter campaign in February, less than a year after our start, and were able to raise over 10,000 dollars to create a new album! So, that is our biggest plan for this year–to release our first album as a band.
We’re heading into the studio next week!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.florenciarusinol.com
- Instagram: @florenciaandthefeeling
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/
florenciaandthefeeling - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/florenciarusinol
Image Credits
Ashley Ogle and PJ Boyajian
